St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-02-05
TOBACCO VS.. WOOL.
States.

The Picayune quotes this morning
apparently with approval, an utterance
of the National Republican to this
effect:
! when the schedule of luxures was being
prepared for the internal revenue act VI lS6?
| 1t was submitted to Secretary Seward TOT nih
| criticism. Finding tobacco on the list he
struck it out saying, tobacco IL nor u1lts
| it is one of the necessares of life NAethcr II
| be regarded as luxury or necessary Tue
tax upon it ought now to be Abolished Tor
the reason that it is 80 general an article OF
consumption among the laboring classes.
strike il out and thereby reduce the surplus
which now so sharply infringes upon the pro
ductivc Industries OF the country
In spite of the high authority of the
triple MISUNDERSTANDING Seward,
the National Republican, and our local
contemporary, many il not most .peo-
pie will tave a difficulty in recognizing
where exactly tobacco comes in as a
Unnecessary Of life.n That it is Il very
general luxury, We are ready to admit ;
and that a large number, if not ii ma
jority, of the laboring classes OF the
rOugher sex are vOtaries of the weed III
some form or other goes equally With
out saying. But that tobacco is Il ne
cessity of life of s. the laboring classes
or any other classes, in the same sense
for example in which wooden clothing
is a necessity OF life, is a contention
which will require stronger grounds
than mere unsupported assertion to cs-
tablish it.
Let us consider the result that would
arise from remission of taxation on the
luxury and the necessary respectively.
The duty OH tobacco brings in to the
treasury about S2S,0000O0 per annum,
that on wool about s5,00O,000 II there
fore reduction of tho revenue be the
one sole object arrived at in revision
of the tariff without any other comsid-
Grafton, it has to be admitted that that
object will be more successfully at
tanned by dropping the duty on tobacco
which yields S2S,000,000 than by rcmov-
ing the tax on wool which yields only
$5,OOO,OO0. But if revenue reduction be
the exclusive aim of tariff reform, then
chucking S100,000,000 of the annual
revenue into the Atlantic would be a
still more etfectual method of compass
ing the end in view.
The tobacco tax means an annual
impost OF 80 cents Il head on every IN
dividual of the population Of this
country; and when it is kept III view
that tobacco is not a necessary OF lite,
we are driven to conclude that the
luxury gets off very easily. And 1t
certainly makes a handsome return to
the treasury. 100000 is no mean
sum towards paying the expenses OF
government; and, paid as it is volunta-
rily by consumers, who are not required
to diShulse n cent of it but with them
own free will, it is the beauideal of a
good taxa tax that yields a good re-
turn, and is voluntary with the tax
payer.
The tax on wool yields only $5,00O,000
per annnm-a paltry sum Ill itself, and
hardly deserving to have even nlne
CENTS per annum tax maintained on
every member Of the community In
uine cents tax we refer, merely to the
direct tax on imported wool; what this
tax on wool costs indirectly to every
head of the population Of the United
States every year amounts to more than
MirtV times nine cents. This tax on
wool which brings the trnmpcry sum
OF $4,000 per annum into the 1reaSu-
ry enables the wooden manufacturer OF
this country to charge every man, wo-
man and child in the United States
over So per annun for his clothing
more than would have to be paid if the
tax were removed.
Thus the wool tax is the most vicious
of all taxes; it largely increases the
cost of one of the Indispensable neces
saries of life, it dwalfs the wool grow
ing interests of the country, and it con
tributes next to nothing to defray the
expenses of government.
Now, then, which is the better tax to
retain that on l,tru,y like tobacco,
which yields large revenue ut il very
small, and that a voluntary, individual |
expense or on a necessary which hard |
ly yields any revenue at all, but which !
forms a heavy addition to the cost OF !
living? With the leave of Secretary |
Seward, the National Republican, the |
favor of untaxing the clothing Of 10000
900 people, and Of making the velunta-
ry consumers of the weed pay for their
oh ~ w or their smoke